PolitiFact 2008

PolitiFact

PolitiFact.com is a fact-checking Web site launched in August 2007 by the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly. During the presidential campaign, reporters and researchers from the Times and CQ examined more than 750 statements and rated them on PolitiFact's Truth-O-Meter, which showed whether they were True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True or False. The most ridiculous falsehoods earned the lowest rating, Pants on Fire. PolitiFact is now using the Truth-O-Meter to fact-check the Obama administration, Congress, trade associations and anyone else who speaks up in Washington.

Bill Adair is the editor of PolitiFact and the Washington Bureau Chief for the St. Petersburg Times. In nearly 20 years with the Times, he has covered the White House, Congress, aviation safety and state and local politics. He's worked in Washington since 1997 and is the author of "The Mystery of Flight 427: Inside a Crash Investigation," which was published in 2002. He won the Everett Dirksen Award in 1998 for his investigative reporting about a member of the Florida delegation, and last year he received the National Press Foundation's Special Citation for a story that explored how the phrase "Bridge to Nowhere" had transformed American politics. He lives in Arlington, Va. with his wife Katherine and three children.